Research Funding Opportunities

The mission of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation is to cure Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis and to improve the quality of lives of patients living with these diseases. To achieve this mission, we support both investigator-initiated research, and specific requests for proposals where the Foundation identifies the scientific scope of interest. Regardless of the funding mechanism, we fund to our research priorities, which are outlined in the Challenges in IBD Research publication. The objective of Challenges in IBD

is to outline the gaps in IBD research that need to be overcome to accelerate the science towards our vision of a world free from Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

 

We support research projects that range across the research continuum, including basic, translational, and clinical research.

 

The Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation strives to ensure that each research application receives an objective, fair, equitable, and timely review. We are convinced that high-quality, unbiased reviews benefit the advancement of health sciences research.

 

Additionally, we are committed to supporting a robust pipeline of junior investigators interested in a career in IBD.

 

Questions? Email us at [email protected]

 

Investigator-initiated funding programs

  • Student Research Fellowship Awards

    Available to undergraduate, graduate, and medical students to support their IBD-related research.
  • Research Fellowship Awards

    Supports post-doctoral individuals in developing skills related to basic and/or clinical investigation into IBD.
  • Career Development Awards

    Prepares potential basic/translational researchers to transition to a career of independent investigation and research.
  • Senior Research Awards

    Provides funding for established basic/translational researchers so they are able to generate enough preliminary data to be competitive for additional funding.
  • Clinical Research Investigator-Initiated Awards

    Provides funding to junior and established clinical researchers to directly impact patient care by addressing important clinical questions. The expectation is that the research findings from funded CRIAs will result in highly-cited publications, citations in clinical guidelines, and/or follow-on funding to advance the research further.
  • Litwin IBD Pioneers

    Supports innovative clinical and translational research projects with the potential to impact the treatment of IBD patients in the near future. Encourages research into the diagnosis, treatment and cures of IBD inflammatory bowel disease.
  • IBD Ventures

    Program to accelerate product development aimed at improving quality of life for IBD patients. Funding is open to companies and academic investigators.
  • IBD Plexus: Academic Request for Proposals

    Provides access to data and biosamples housed in the Foundation’s IBD Plexus platform to propel academic investigator-initiated research. No funding will be provided through this RFP.

Research Initiatives

The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation Research Initiatives program provides support for cutting-edge translational research studies, focused on the five priority areas to address unmet clinical needs in IBD as described in the 2019 "Challenges in IBD." For more information, see our current research priorities.

How to Apply

Applicants for most awards must submit a letter of intent (LOI) declaring their interest in a specific funding program. (Exceptions include the Student Research Awards). The Foundation will then invite approved applicants to submit full applications detailing their grant request.

  • Applicants must submit their LOIs and proposals using our proposalCENTRAL system.
  • Only LOIs and grant applications submitted through proposalCENTRAL will be considered.

Please see individual funding program for submission deadlines and further details.

Selection process

The Foundation oversees peer-review committees to evaluate each proposal to ensure we are funding the most innovative and meritorious projects. The peer review process follows strict guidelines for maintaining research and peer integrity. Additionally, peer review committees are given guidance regarding objective, fair, equitable, and timely application reviews.

Post-award policies and requirements

Click here to find post-award policies and instructions

For matters related to pre- and post-award management at the Foundation, please reach out to the following:

 

Senior Research Awards, Career Development Awards, Research Fellowship Awards, Litwin IBD Pioneers Awards or Clinical Research Investigator-Initiated Awards: Orlando Green, Associate Director, Research - Grants & Contracts at [email protected]

 

For all other questions: [email protected]